The speeches in Acts continue to arouse a variety of opinions; however, there is almost universal agreement that the style of the speeches belongs to Luke rather than to the persons to whom the speeches are attributed. This seems like a reasonable enough position given the convention among ancient historians to provide a précis of speeches rather than a verbatim transcription. However, Dibelius in his seminal essay on the speeches took Lukan style to be an indication of his unreliability: ‘Admittedly the speeches do, on the whole, reflect his (Luke's) style as regards vocabulary and phraseology; and it is this very fact which must constantly lead us to doubt their authenticity.’